World Regional Geography - Sub-Saharan Africa, Chapter 9

Source in whole or in part from
Fundamentals of World Regional Geography, 2nd edition, by J. J. Hobbs;
and some of my own notes

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acid rain

Precipitation that mixes with airborne industrial pollutants, causing the moisture to become highly acidic and therefore harmful to flora and bodies of water on which it falls. Sulfuric acid is the most common component of this acid precipitation.

albedo

The amount of the sun's energy reflected by the ground. Less vegetation cover correlates with high albedo, and vice versa.

apartheid

The Republic of South Africa's former official policy of separate development of the races, designed to ensure the racial integrity and political supremacy of the white minority.

Charney effect

Observed by an atmospheric scientist named Charney, this states that the less plant cover there is on the ground, the higher the albedo—solar energy deflected back into the atmosphere—and therefore the lower the humidity and precipitation.

chemocline

The boundary between lower, carbon dioxide-laden waters and higher, gas-free, fresh water in some African lakes. The puncture of this boundary can cause eruptions that are fatal to humans and other life around the lakes.

colored

A South African term for persons of mixed racial ancestry.

desertification

The expansion of a desert brought about by changing environmental conditions or unwise human use.

donor democracy

Typical of countries in Africa south of the Sahara, this is a situation in which a government makes just enough concessions on voting rights or human rights to win foreign loans and aid, without instituting any serious democratic reform.

donor fatigue

Public or official weariness of extending aid to needy people.

graben

A landform created when a segment of Earth's crust is displaced downward between parallel tensional faults or when segments of the crust that border it ride upward along parallel compressional faults. Also called a rift valley.

The Great Rift Valley

The result of tectonic processes, this is a broad, steep-walled trough extending from the Zambezi Valley in southern Africa northward to the Red Sea and the valley of the Jordan River in southwestern Asia.

Great Trek

In what is now South Africa, a series of northward migrations in the 1830s by which groups of Boers, primarily from the eastern part of the Cape Colony, sought to find new interior grazing lands and establish new political units beyond British reach.

Homelands

Ten former territorial units in South Africa reserved for native Africans (blacks). They had elected African governments, and some were designated as "independent" republics, although they were not recognized outside South Africa. Formerly known as Bantustans. They were abolished in 1994. Also known as native reserves and national states.

keystone species

A species that affects many other organisms in an ecosystem.

microcredit

The lending of small sums to poor people to set up or expand small businesses.

moor

A rainy, deforested upland, covered with grass or heather and often underlain by water-soaked peat. Also, Muslim inhabitants of Spain.

rift valley

Other name for Graben

theory of island biogeography

A theoretical calculation of the relationship between habitat loss and natural species loss, in which a 90 percent loss of natural forest cover results in a loss of half of the resident species.

triangular trade

The 16th- to 19th-century trading links between West Africa, Europe, and the Americas, involving guns, alcohol, and manufactured goods from Europe to West Africa exchanged for slaves. Slaves brought to the Americans were exchanged for the gold, silver, tobacco, sugar, and rum carried back to Europe.

66

what percentage of sub-Saharan Africa is rural?

Nigeria, DR Congo, Ethopia

which are the three most populous countries in sub-Saharan Africa?

Resource rich, infrastructure poor

What are the economic factors of the region?

plateaus, rivers

Know the physical geography, what are the primary types of landforms in the region?

young, urban, professional, skilled and educated

What groups are the most impacted by AIDS/HIV on the region?

expense of medical bills diverts money from education and infrastructure

What is the impact of AIDS on the region? 1) ____________, 2) sick workers less productive.

sick workers less productive

What is the impact of AIDS on the region? 1) expense of medical bills diverts money from education and infrastructure, 2) ____________.